1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rotary engine having two sets of pistons, one set for intake and compression of the air or fuel/air mixture and the other set for providing power and exhausting the combustion products.
2. Description of Related Art
The reciprocating piston internal combustion engine is perhaps the most widely used prime mover in the world today, finding application in a variety of fields such as portable power generation, power tools and equipment, and transportation. The reciprocating piston engines of today are the result of many decades of technological evolution, however, the reciprocating engines of today still suffer many drawbacks. Most current reciprocating piston engines of the two stroke type suffer from excessive pollution and inefficiency due to incomplete scavenging of the combustion products from the cylinder prior to the start of the compression stroke. Most current four stroke engines suffer from excessive mechanical complexity due to their valve trains and elaborate engine control systems. In addition, both the two stroke and the four stroke engines that are in common use today, with the exception of the diesel engine, require expensive high octane fuels for proper functioning. Furthermore, both the two stroke and the four stroke engines that are in common use today, including the diesel engine, suffer from a lack of multi-fuel capability. In other words, most engines in common use today lack the capability of using a variety of fuels, having widely different properties and characteristics, without a loss of function of the engine.
To remedy the drawbacks enumerated above, the rotary engine of the present invention, which will be described in detail below, is being proposed. For the same reasons, other alternative engine designs have continually been proposed in the art of internal combustion engine design. Examples of such alternative engine designs can be seen in the patents and other references listed below.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,300,916, issued to Bernard M. Beach on Apr. 15, 1919, shows a two-stroke, radial, piston engine having pairs of cylinders that act cooperatively, such that one piston charges the other cylinder with a fuel/air mixture during the compression stroke of each piston in each of the pairs of cylinders.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,316,346, issued to Benjamin F. Augustine on Sep. 16, 1919, shows a two-stroke engine having a rotating casing. The casing has a plurality of pairs of cylinders, each cylinder housing a piston. Of each cylinder pair, one cylinder pumps air or fuel/air mixture and has a piston that acts as an exhaust valve for the other cylinder, while the other cylinder performs compression and power generation functions. The combustion chambers in the engine of Augustine '346 rotate with the rotating casing.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,557,395, issued to Benjamin F. Augustine on October 13, 1925, and U.S. Pat. No. 1,623,296, issued to Benjamin F. Augustine on Apr. 5, 1927, show two stroke engines of the rotary radial type. The engines of Augustine '395 and '296 use pairs of cylinders that are coupled together to form one combustion chamber. Each of the pair of cylinders has a piston therein with one piston controlling the intake ports and one piston controlling the exhaust ports. The combustion chambers in the engines of Augustine '395 and '296 rotate with the rotating casing of the engines. Each pair of cylinders is provided with its own pump for supplying fuel/air mixture to the pair of cylinders.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,587,275, issued to Adolph Behn et al. on Jun. 1, 1926, shows a two-stroke engine with a rotary radial configuration. The engine of Behn et al. has two types of cylinders referred to as compression cylinders and working cylinders. The compression cylinders pump fuel/air mixture into the working cylinders where the fuel/air mixture is further compressed and then ignited. In the engine of Behn et al. the combustion chambers are the same as the working cylinders and thus the combustion chambers of the engine shown in Behn et al. rotate with the banks of cylinders.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,732,147, issued to Benjamin Franklin Augustine on Oct. 15, 1929, shows a two stroke engine of the rotary radial type. The engine of Augustine '147 uses pairs of cylinders that are coupled together to form one combustion chamber. The combustion chambers in the engine of Augustine '147 rotate with the rotating casing of the engine. Each pair of cylinders is provided with its own pump for supplying fuel/air mixture to the pair of cylinders. Each pump also has a pair of cylinders and a pair of pistons, and each pump is located intermediate adjacent pairs of combustion chambers.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,477,415, issued to Hans Wyssbrod on Nov. 11, 1969, is directed to an engine of the two or four stroke type where both the crankshaft and the engine casing are configured to rotate about a common axis. Through the use of a beveled differential gear set, the crankshaft rotates at twice the speed of the engine casing. Here again, the combustion chambers are designed to rotate with the engine casing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,413,486, issued to Everett F. Irwin on Nov. 8, 1983, shows a rotary engine having a stationary housing with a rotary cylinder block provided within the housing. The rotary cylinder block has two banks of cylinders, one for intake and compression of air, and one for deriving power from the products of combustion and exhausting those combustion products. An eccentrically mounted shaft causes pistons to reciprocate within the cylinders as the rotary cylinder block rotates. The eccentric shaft also acts as the power output shaft of the engine. The eccentric shaft has a polygonal cross section; and base plates, to which one piston from each bank is rigidly fixed, bear against the flat sides of the eccentric shaft.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,682,843, issued to Colin A. Clifford on Nov. 4, 1997, shows a two stroke engine of the rotary type. The Clifford engine has a stationary outer housing and a cylinder assembly rotatably disposed within the outer housing. The cylinder assembly has a plurality of cylinders, each cylinder having a piston provided therein. The Clifford engine has a conventional style crankshaft which is set to rotate in a direction counter to the direction of rotation of the cylinder assembly, at a rate of rotation three times the rate of rotation of the cylinder assembly, through the use of a planetary gear set. The Clifford engine has spark plugs attached to the stationary outer housing, and ignition of the fuel/air mixture occurs within each of the cylinders.
German Patent No. 171,726, by Paul Auriol, published on Jun. 11, 1906, shows a two stroke engine having rotating cylinders. The combustion chambers of the Auriol engine are integral with the cylinders of the engine, i.e. each cylinder and its associated spark plug rotate as a unit.
German Patent No. 410,946, by Ernst Emil Freytag et al., published on Mar. 6, 1925, shows a two stroke rotating cylinder engine. In the engine of Freytag et al. each cylinder is opened to the exhaust port near the bottom of its stroke, and immediately thereafter the cylinder is opened to the intake port. The fuel/air mixture then undergoes compression in the power generating cylinders before the interior of the cylinders is exposed to a spark from a spark plug and thus before combustion is initiated. In the engine of Freytag et al. the compressed fuel/air mixture does not pass through a combustion chamber, where the fuel/air mixture is ignited, before the burning fuel/air mixture is admitted to the power generating cylinders.
German Patent Application Number 42 28 639, by Josef Gail, published on Mar. 3, 1994, shows a two stroke engine of the rotary radial type. The combustion chambers in the engine of German Document '639 rotate with the rotating casing of the engine.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. In particular, none of the above inventions and patents teach or suggest a rotary engine with a rotating drum supported in a stationary housing, wherein the rotating drum has one bank of cylinders for taking in and compressing the fuel/air mixture and another bank of cylinders for generating power and exhausting the combustion products, wherein the compressed fuel/air mixture passes through a combustion chamber before entering the power generating cylinders, and wherein both ends of each of the piston rods connecting the pistons to an eccentric shaft can pivot at their attachments.